Newburgh cops fatally shot man, say he attacked officers

CITY OF NEWBURGH - Newburgh police officers shot and killed a man Wednesday night after he charged them with a knife in his hand, police said.

Michael Lembhard, 22, reportedly had a warrant for his arrest when officers spotted him about 11:30 p.m. on Liberty Street. Police Lt. Bruce Cambpell said four officers from the street crimes unit apparently chased Lembhard as he ran into an apartment building at 55 Liberty St. Cambpell said police were still sorting out the details early Thursday morning but it appears multiple officers fired when Lembhard came at them with a knife.

Backup units sped into the neighborhood seconds later. Lembhard was taken by a Mobile Life Support Services ambulance to the Newburgh campus of St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital. The officers were taken to the hospital's Cornwall campus as a matter of procedure, Cambpell said. None were injured.

Police blocked off the neighborhood and state police and investigators from the Orange County District Attorney's Office joined them. Four small children were eventually allowed to leave the building with a woman. A small number of relatives stood on the corner nearby as the children approached.

“Who got shot,” asked a woman.

“Uncle Michael,” a little girl answered.

Campbell said he wasn't certain where the children were at the time of the shooting, but it appeared they were upstairs.

Lembhard comes from a large, extended family, and relatives hurried to the Newburgh hospital. Orange County Sheriff's deputies and police from Newburgh and New Windsor responded in force after reports of a fight. They stood in a line across the front entrance as relatives waited for news.

Lembhard's mother emerged shortly midnight from the hospital and screamed:

“He died! He died!”

For more than an hour, relatives and friends consoled each other and occasionally screamed at the police officers and deputies.

“You couldn't catch him because he was on the run, so you had to shoot him,” his mother yelled.

More than a dozen people paced in the street as the police stood by. The periodic arrival of relatives brought new waves of anguished screams and a handful of threats of retaliation.

“You messed up,” a brother called. “You f---ed with Lembhards.”

Campbell said the officers involved in the shooting would be placed on administrative leave during the investigation in accordance with department policies. Because it was an officer-involved shooting, Campbell said, a joint investigation would be coordinated through the district attorney's office with the help of state and city police.